The US economy is levering up, and that's great news

Oregon Army National Guardsmen with the 3670th Maintenance Company use pry-bars to lift a section of concrete during a training exercise.
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Following years of paying off debt after the recession, both households and companies in America are finally adding debt again.

But according to Michael Kelly, global head of multiasset investing at PineBridge Investments, the debt being added in the economy is actually just fine.

"We have gone through a five- to seven-year deleveraging cycle," Kelly told Business Insider.

"In fact all inclusive debt-to-GDP is down substantially. But if [debt] starts going up just a hair, people start to freak out when it's actually a good thing."

On the household side, the amount of income going to debt obligations of Americans is at its lowest level in decades after a long postcrisis deleveraging, but consumer credit is slowing ticking up. And Kelly said the increased debt load was actually a positive for the economy.

"The period of growth-dampening because of deleveraging is behind us," said Kelly, whose firm manages $84 billion in assets. "It would be a problem if we were to approach the debt levels of where we were before the crisis, but we have a long ways to go to get to that point, so a little increase isn't a bad thing."

The basic reason that debt repayments tamp down economic growth is that people spend more money paying for things they've already purchased rather than new goods. And of course economic growth hinges on the continued purchase of new stuff.

Households spent years bringing their debt burdens back down to reasonable levels. And now they're ready to lever up again.
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"We can sustain a higher debt-to-GDP than we have now, and more people taking on some debt and turning that into spending is stimulative to the economy and will help growth," Kelly said.

He added that, as we've noted before, much of the aversion to increases in debt is a function of the post-financial-crisis mindset. Because the recession was caused by a significant bursting of a credit bubble, there is an aversion to any increase in debt.

But a little bit of debt isn't a bad thing.

"If debt goes up even a tiny bit, everyone freaks out and says, 'Oh, we're about to have another financial crisis,'" Kelly said. "The extreme pessimism isn't warranted."